Transcription
All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome back. Earn your leisure. We've got a special episode. Something that we haven't really talked too much about.
It's true. Um, I think we touched on it at some point in the past, but I know not recently. We haven't spoken about it. Like in the last couple of years, we haven't had a conversation about it.
We definitely haven't. And not in depth, like I feel like we're going to get into today. It's one of these topics that I feel like we hear about it when we're in high school, but we don't really talk about it too much after that. Um, and so I'm excited. I'm excited.
Yeah, for sure. Stormy Banks from the Pink Print Firm. Yes. Uh, teaches people how to get grant funding. Uh, $19 million. You you secured.
19 million. Okay. So, looking forward to this conversation.
Sneeze. It's not a light conversation.
This is This is a heavy one. I like that.
But first and foremost, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.
Thank you for having me. I appreciate y'all in this nice facility today.
For sure. You came back up top. You know, you you're in Georgia, but you're from New York originally.
Yeah, from Brooklyn.
Okay. What part?
Best eye. Best star venue.
Fulton. Okay. Okay. Real best. Real best. All right. I know what we're dealing with now.
There you go.
So where we So we in Yonkers right now. This is upstate to you? Or no?
Definitely upstate.
Come. We was doing so good.
I couldn't even put the address in Uber. I was like, where they got us going?
Yonkers was doing so good. That's crazy.
I was like, Matt, where we at?
I will say this. Brooklyn is allowed to say that this is upstate because it is an hour from y'all.
Yeah, I agree.
That's crazy. Anything an hour plus is upstate. You know it's right outside of New York City, right?
That's where he's at.
Right here. He's like 15 minutes, like 15 minutes where.
Bronx.
Okay. Bronx. Not from here.
5 minutes to the Bronx.
Yeah. Yeah. Bronx.
I mean, we're closer to the George Washington in Brooklynist.
But, you know, I don't even go to the Bronx.
Oh man. Yeah. Yeah. That that sounds like Brooklyn to me.
Good old Brooklyn.
Okay. So, first, can you tell us like how you got into this space?
I got into grants really organic. It's not a crazy story, right? I was a business owner. I didn't have credit.
What kind of business?
I had a salon. Yep. A mobile hair salon in New York. So, I didn't have good credit and I didn't have a lot of cash flow. And I was like, "Okay, but I still need money." And I went to I was vending at this event and this lady, she was a product distributor and she was like, "Oh, well, our company has a corporate grant out right now. Orbeay has a grant for hair stylists." And I was like, "Okay, how do I apply?" She sent me the link. I applied. I ain't win that one. But then I knew about grants, right? And so then I was like, "Okay, well, if this was a grant opportunity, I'm going to try to find some other ones." After 10 applications of getting denied, I finally won. My first grant was a $50,000 grant. After that, I'm hooked.
So, that's how I initially got into it.
That that brings into a lot of questions. Like I said, the last time we talked about grants, we were talking to young adults about getting grants because they didn't have to pay that back, but then even applying for it is what what is that process like? What was it like for you after getting rejected nine times? What were some of the things that you learned each time to finally get successful one?
Yeah. And that's that's really the whole formula, right? Is because what people do is you're not going to win every grant you go for. Right now, typically people are winning like 10% of the grants that they're going for. But the formula is like actually figuring out, okay, get the feedback from the funders. You're like, okay, what did I do that made you say no, right? What can I do better in the future? Getting that creates like basically a a proposal that is pretty much ironclad. Like you know exactly what messaging works for what funders that you're going for. And so when you're going for the application process, people say, "Oh, Stormy, I tried to ask them for feedback, but they didn't get back to me. They're like, "Oh, we had an overwhelming amount of people apply. We're not giving individual feedback." I found this site called unfunded, right? It's unfunded.com. This is the site where you can become basically a judge on different grant applications. Grators will be like, "We need more volunteers to become a judge to help us go through." When you're a judge, you're on the back end. You're learning the curriculum. You're learning the rubric that they're using to actually grade the grant applications. So, I'm getting on those sites and I'm like, "Okay, let me become a judge and start learning what's the actual rubric. How are you judging me?" Because I don't know what what you're even looking at looking for. And so once I get on that site and I became a judge on a lot of different grants, now I'm like, "Oh, I know the rubrics now." And so for my next applications, I'm more so tearing it towards what they were looking for. I'm tearing it towards aligning to what they're what they're asking us to be, right? And now I'm starting to win more consistently because I have the rubric.
So what kind of grant did you get?
So it was a New York State grant. It was a local state grant that I was getting at that time. And that's a good question because there's multiple different types of grants. There's corporate grant opportunities, there's local, state, and there's federal grants. And like, you have to understand which grants you're going for to actually know the strategy behind what you're doing and how you're applying to those grant opportunities cuz each are very different. And the process when it comes to like applying is super duper different.
But so they're all government grants like cuz there's there's corp there's like uh nonprofit corporate grants that you can get as well. Right.
Right. So nonprofit that's one type of grant. Corporate grants that's corporations giving their own money. Corporations are typically going like tax incentives. That's what they're trying to do. They're giving money like fourth quarter to be able to get tax breaks. But then you have state local grants which is funded by the federal government. The federal government is getting their money from taxpayer dollars, right? So then they're giving it to state local incentives or they're giving it to different departments. So it's it's all very different. It's not all government funded.
So but you specialize in government grants.
I specialize in grants.
What?
Corporate grants, local grants, state grants, federal grants.
So there's corporate grants.
Right. There's state grants and there's federal grants.
Those are the main three.
Okay. What about nonprofit? That's not a main one.
There's nonprofit grants, but for me, that's not a main one because those could be looped into corporate grants as well, depending because you might have McDonald's who has McDonald's Foundation. So, it's it's still in throughout the corporation.
Yeah. I I I want to go back to this this 50,000 because again, nothing to sneeze at. You're you're somebody who says like I don't have funding. Grants are important and most people they should know, but that's money that you do not have to pay back, right? You don't have to pay that back. When you got the 50, walk me through the emotions. How did this feel? What did you do with it?
Yeah. So, you get the the the email, right? And they're like, "Hey, you've been chosen as the recipient for the 2025 such and such program." And you're like, "What?" And you have typically like three to seven days to respond back to get whatever paperwork they need from you. And then depending on the program, you got think they get, you know, maybe seven days and the money's in your account. So you wake up, you know, every day you're checking your account, where's the money? Where's the money? Where's the money? The one day you finally wake up and it's in there, you like, whoa. And this is this is one thing that I touch on all the time now is like it really felt like financial freedom. Like that was like my first time feeling true financial freedom because this was not debt-free, non-dilutive capital that was infused into my business when I
down for the people. Non-dilutive capital.
No equity split. I didn't have to, you know, no strings attached basically is how that works. So with that type of funding, what I was able to do was, you know, I hired staff in my business. I was able to get more um mobile locations and we expanded from just being in Brooklyn to further into the tri-state area. And it also helped me create a website that was able to track like where my staff was at particular times so that I could get people to book into my um algorithm without me having to, you know, take the calls and everything like that. So I was able to expand really really quickly in that time frame. So I feel like the feeling that it gave me was like all right this is my chance right this you know like you only got one shot do not miss the blow like that was my my opportunity and I really feel like I took that and never looked back.
Is there is there a limitation to how many grants you should be applying for at the same time? Do grant writers look at that and say oh this person has 10 already that's outstanding like how how does that work?
It depends on it. It it it really depends on the funding source, right? So federal will have like you can't apply to a certain department if you're already working over here. So you might have limitations, but this is when strategy comes into play because with corporate grants, right, corporate grants is really like a free-for-all. They don't have any real reporting like requirements that you have to uphold. You can apply to as many as you want and you can win as many as you want on the corporate side. So, let's say you're going for like a six-figure grant on the federal side and that's going to take you 6 months to be able to get it funded, but you got these corporate grants that are funding within like 30 to 45 days. So, you can be able to go for those really continuously and and consistently to win that funding to just operational support, operational support until you win the big kahuna for whatever event or programming that you're trying to do. So, it's all about the strategy and how you layer in, you know, the grant funding that you're going for.
So, the grant that you got, what was the specific grant?
It was called the Back to Black um initiative in New York State. And it wasn't specific to women because I think men won that one too. They had like 10 winners.
Well, so it was for black entrepreneurs.
Yeah, that was.
Okay. So, you get the grant, but at what point do you decide to do this full-time and not the hair salon?
Um, so COVID hit and then you know in New York all non-essential workers were shut down. So, even though I had won the grant, had built the business, I couldn't operate. So, I had moved down to Tennessee where my mom was staying at the time, and I ended up like working in a salon out there just trying to kind of make ends meet. Um, and then I started seeing guys like you guys on the internet talking about financial literacy, and then I seen other people talking about credit and all type of things. I didn't know any of that type of stuff. But what I did know is how to get grant funding. So, I started just getting on live because I needed supplemental income. I'm on my Instagram live like, "Hey y'all, let's fill out these grant applications and get this money for our businesses." And one thing turned to another. It went from live to Zoom, from Zoom to in person to now, can you do this for us? And I'm like, you know what? I can. So then that's when I went through my certification program, got my actual grant certification, learned all the real technical parts of the grant writing industry, and then that's when I opened up the business, franchised it, and it is what it is today.
So grant certification, what what is that?
It's about 1500 hours of literally like proposal procurement, budget planning, um, business development. You're learning everything there is to know about the different departments and industries and how the grants work, time frames. That's kind of what's grant you write the grant proposal.
I'm a grant writer. Certified grant writer.
That's that's major. Certified grant and business owner, you know, founder. I got a lot of titles that ain't.
I wonder when you start because there there is a misconception, right? We don't really see too many people applying for grants. Number one. Number two, I wonder why that that is and is there a misconception around grants that our community just kind of can't seem to to to actually dive into this space.
The main thing I hear is that they think a it's only for nonprofits, right? And so a lot of us have for-profit companies and they think that they're already disqualified, but there's grants for for-profit and nonprofit companies. The other thing is that people think it's a lottery ticket, right? They're like, "Grants are like a lottery. I apply and I don't win." And it's like, how do we educate you on the strategy to grants, right? The formula to actually make grants a consistent part of your business's revenue in order for you to consistently be winning and expanding in your business. So, that's pretty much what I think it is is just the miseducation or misinformation that's put out about the process to how grants really work.
Is there like a database? Like if somebody's looking for different type of grants, is there a database, a site that they can go to? Like somebody who has completely is misinformed, has no education, this is a site you should start with to see even if you qualify to receive a grant.
Yeah. So the databases that they have, they're not going to tell you like if you qualify for it. The databases that they have are literally here's just all of the grants that are currently out on the marketplace. Find which ones you want to apply to. Right? So you have sites like grantwatch.com, grants.gov, grantstation. Um, all those sites have grants on them. But if you don't understand the process to it, once again, now we're going to be getting into that. Okay, I found the grant, but now what do I do? So reading is fundamental when it comes to grants, right? And on the grant, there's literally an eligibility requirement, right? That goes and shows you like you have to be US-based business, you got to be 18 years or older, you have to have military, whatever it may be. Those qualifications is what showcases like yes, I'm eligible to apply. But the other thing you have to know too is are you in alignment with the mission of the grant funer, right? Because the grtor might be like, okay, let's just say this is the research that I do when I'm writing a grant for somebody. I'm like, what projects has this grtor funded in the last 6 months? Because I'm not going to go and pitch to you a a a plan for an event when right now you're focused on, you know, podcasting, right? So, I'm going to go to you and I'm going to make sure that I have the right messaging. Even if I'm eligible, I want to have the right messaging to align with what you're currently looking to fund because I know what you funded in the last 6 months. Now, this used to take me hours to do, but now we're using AI, right? We've created bots, you know, for my team to be able to use to do this deep research in like matters of seconds to say, okay, we got this funer, who have they funded in the last six months. We can see everybody they funded, how much they funded, and then now we're reaching out to those people. Hey, do you mind, you know, sharing some insight on what your proposal was or what you asked for in alignment? Because we want to go in to win. We don't want to go in to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. We're trying to actually get the funding. So, it's those little tricks and tip to the trade that we're doing to actually make it not a lottery ticket and a strategy.
So, if somebody wants to get a grant, what's what's the steps that they have to go through?
I would say first steps first, right? You got to have a business. if a lot of people um if they're operating as an individual or like a DBA sole proprietorship, right? Like there's not there's grants out there for that, but you're going to get more grants when you're actually a registered business or a nonprofit. So, that's your first step for sure. Once you get to that point, what I do is we create a proposal, right? You create a grant proposal, and this is what you use to create that messaging and alignment to grant funders. Once you have your proposal down, what you want to do is go on those sites I mentioned, Grant Watch, Grant Station, and you want to actually start finding grant opportunities. And then you apply to those grants with your grant proposal. And from there, you want to apply. I tell people apply to one grant a day. That's typically the strategy that I have. One day, one day, one grant a day. Because if you're winning 10% of the ones you apply to and you have 30 out there, every month you should have three to four grants that you're winning for your business. And a lot of people don't understand that. Like I said before, this could become a revenue stream in their business where they're literally funding their operational costs with grants. So the money that you're making in your business now, you're able to invest and expand and other things that you, you know, be able to do.
So those website, well, just those websites, they have criterias like, okay, let's say you go to, what's the name of the website again?
There's one called Grant Watch.
So if you go to Grant Watch, right? You could type in, okay, I'm a woman. I live in New York. Like, that's how it is. Or they just give you a million ones. You just got.
They have filters. You can filter it out. You can say, you know, I'm forprofit. I'm a woman-owned business. I live in New York area. And now that site particularly, they have a AI search, too. So, you can even go on there and say prompted, hey, I'm I'm in the, you know, education sector in New York and I'm trying to create a program for financial literacy. Help me find grants around that topic.
Okay. This is uh as you're talking I'm hearing like the game-changing mentality here. Most people when they try to start a business either they try to raise capital right or they get a loan. This is completely different. Talk about that shift if we get this right when we get this right from having money that doesn't have to be repaid as to opposed to getting a loan. And the second part of it is what type of businesses are you seeing applying for grants? Are they like mom and pop shops or do you see like what industry in particular that has been the overwhelming theme when you when you're doing this?
Yeah. So for your first question, I think the shift that could happen is I just think right most American families have $100,000 in debt, but how many of them have $100,000 in access to capital? Right? Just money in the bank or assets, right? And so I think just as a community, imagine if we could eliminate a lot of the debt in business and in personal to actually be able to do other things and to be able to expand and come together as a community. I just really feel like that could be revolutionary if we had less debt and more access to actual capital. So when it comes to grants, I'm like, when was the last time that you got a pre-approval letter for a grant in the mail?
Right? But you always get a pre-approval letter for a credit card in the mail because it's beneficial to the people making money off of it. but they don't ever educate on these other opportunities and how we can start our businesses debt-free and non-dilutive. I'm looking at the story of like with Fawn Weaver, right? with with what's going on with her company. And I'm like, imagine if we can actually be on those levels but get it debt-free. So grants to me is is definitely the game changer. Definitely what can shift to me the whole wealth gap in our community. You know, not single-handedly, but it's a really big part of it. And then I think when it comes to starting a business, we have to really think on a mass scale. How can we create businesses that are actually touching mass amounts of people? Technology has been one. I know me and you were talking about that early earlier. Healthcare has been a really really big one as well. In the mom and pop space, a lot of beauty business owners get a lot of funding as well. Transportation companies get a lot of funding as well. So those are the main ones that I'm seeing like on the smaller scale and then on a larger scale that are the industries that are really getting the funding from grators. But anybody can win grants, right? Because it's not only specifically based on industry. There's a lot of qualifying factors that could allow you to win a grant opportunity.
So how much money can somebody typically get in in a grant?
Corporate grants can range from, you know, 5,000 to 100,000. State local grants can range from 10,000 to a couple hundred thousand. Federal grants can range from, you know, low six figures to multi-million dollar projects. So.
And what's what's some of the biggest mistakes that people make in the grant process?
I think the biggest mistake is the budget. Um, whenever I review grant proposals for people, it's the budget is like blown out, made up numbers, fictitious, and they have whole departments that are literally going over just the budget to see if it's realistic. So, you actually have to know your programming. How much does the equipment cost? How much do people cost? How much is your salary? What is it for? How many hours? Like they want it to be broken down. And the the budgets to always be balanced back at zero. So, a lot of people don't have like basic accounting skills to be able to like prepare a really good budget. And that's one of the things that get them easily denied is just a a blown out budget.
So, we got to have everything detailed. Line items got to be there. We're trying to get if we're doing 30, we're trying to get three a month. Take me through this process. We start at 50, we get to 19 million. What what what are you learning? What is this process like from starting at that point, becoming super efficient at it almost to a mastery point to where you're at now?
Yeah, I I became super obsessed, you know, um from teaching it to actually going through the certification program and just seeing on a broad scale like what this could do and what this could create in in just everyday American homes. It really allowed me to be like, "Okay, what can I do to create almost a guaranteed formula, right? As a grant writer, I can't sit here and say, "Okay, I can guarantee that you're going to win grant funding." But I want to try to get as close as heavenly possible to knowing that it's going to be a yes. So, in the formula, what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis is I'm trying to figure out, hey, which funders are currently funding and what's their budget? How much do they actually have to give to the general public? Okay. Then I'm trying to figure out like you said which industries or which particular things are they funding at this current moment in this space and that's when I'm getting my clients together to say okay we're going to focus on this messaging right now because you know Trump administration just changed DEI so now we're shifting and then I'm trying to also figure out the right perfect um budgets and messaging that actually aligns with grantors consistently and so when you're creating that formula in your business through that one grant proposal that you it starts to become a really easy process to consistently apply and apply with like pretty good accuracy.
Is there a time of year that works? I know you spoke about taxes and so a lot of corporate well people in corporate at the end of the year they're looking for tax incentives and so they they they try to donate or they create grants or is it like April or March 15th where it's like this is the deadline for us to file? Is there a specific time of year or every month is is is equal?
Fourth quarter for corporate grants. Um first and second quarter for federal state grants because new fiscal year budgets is coming out and now they're spending money. So third quarter is still good but it's a little bit lighter than than any other, you know, quarter.
Gotcha.
So yes, there are times.
So um you write grants to people, right?
Mhm.
Do you recommend like what do you think about people that use that are using artificial intelligence to write the grant?
Yeah, that's a great question. So, I think AI is an amazing tool like we use it mostly for like deep research purposes because what they're doing right now um as I've seen like the um National Science Foundation, they actually just banned using AI for federal and state level programming. So, what they're doing is creating tools. There's a tool like ZeroGPT that they're using to say, "Okay, if you're using AI and it's 80% of your proposal, we're kicking it out at this point because again, people are coming up with numbers and programming projects that they haven't read through. They don't understand, and they're like, how are we going to be able to determine that this money is going to be used properly if you're just coming up with anything, right?" So, that's one thing they're doing right now. I think that it could be a good tool for grammar, prompting ideas, helping you with messaging, helping you connect and align with funders. But I still think that human writing aspect does change the game in terms of being able to um connect with the fun and what they're trying to do.
Does if I use AI to write it, does it come off as fraudulent? Is that a red flag that can follow me throughout that process? Right? Like if I I'm applying for one corporate grant, they might put me in a database like, "Hey, this this guy used AI to help write his."
No, it's not going to work like that. Yeah. All the departments are separate.
Perfect.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what's a hack that people might not know that could help their chances of getting a grant?
Building relationships. Building relationships is a super duper hack. And I'm talking about literally, you know, you can getting involved with your chamber of commerce, but also like your your local um communities, your local state projects that are funding opportunities, building those relationships with the people who are the treasurers, the people who are creating the um programming, the program developers. And this is like going on Eventbrite and finding community events and then looking on LinkedIn and finding, hey, they so and so has a a grant that's out right now. How can I connect to the project manager? How can I connect to the treasurer? How can I connect to, you know, the people who are overseeing this grant opportunity? Get on a call, build relationships. Because this is what people don't understand. Just because I have a grant that's front-facing right now doesn't mean I don't have other money in the reserves, right? They have full budgets. They might have a million dollars that they're giving out for the whole year, but right now they're just offering this $100,000 grant. So now, if you start building those relationships, they're like, "Oh, we saw that you had that program for the kids. We got some opportunities on the back end for that. Stick around." Or, "Hey, I'll save your application." That's really how it works because what they're trying to find, too, is you have to remember, especially state, local programs, they're giving that money from the federal government. So, they're they have to do a certain, you know, they have to also do right with the money. they have to give it to people and showcase what they've done over the course of the year in order to get funded the next time. So, they're looking for reliable relationships that can also help them get funded next year, too.
Mhm. Yeah. One of the things to alleviate that, especially this time of year, is on an individual basis, is student loans, right? And and getting grants obviously helps with that. A lot of kids have just gone back to college. Some kids are starting their senior years in high school. What is the advice for them in the process of trying to get grants? Right? Imagine a high school kid trying to figure out how to get money so they don't go into that. What should they know going into this college applying process?
So, I focus on grants for businesses and nonprofits. On the college side of grants, you know, I'm not in tune with what the college side of grants are are even doing at this point in time. My expertise is on the business side.
Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. So, so what's a success story that just comes out to you that one of your clients had as far as, you know, working with you and and getting funding for a grant?
I mean, I have a lot that come up to mind. I think one that was um probably sticks out the most over the years is um this lady from Houston. She has a child care facility. She had one facility and it was 24 hours and she just was like super passionate when she was talking to me over the call about her messaging and um we ended up getting her a $300,000 grant that Houston was giving out through the state cuz they wanted more child care facilities. She has seven locations now and she's killing it and she's debt-free and she owns 100%. and it's all because she was able to get into that program um through Houston. And so it's just the legacy that it creates, the the freedom that it creates for her and just the possibility that it creates in people's mind. And it's the validation that happens that says like my business is worth it. My business is worthy. My idea was good enough for somebody to see it and not, you know, want to actually invest and not have to take a part of what I'm doing to say yes.
The uh location obviously is important in terms of grants or I'm assuming isn't important. You talked about Houston. I know you're doing stuff in uh the Atlanta region. The municipality obviously plays a role in the grants because how much money the state can talk about the location process when you're doing grants.
100%. So of course because they're state local grants where you're registered where your business is registered matters. Um this is why like on a higher level when you're really going for grants consistently, you know, you want to create those those um foreign entities in other states to be able to access that grant funding opportunity. Of course, you got to know like all the implications that come with that. But that becomes a higher level strategy that you can utilize. Um but there major cities are going to have the most grants, right? Major cities are getting the most funding. um New York, Georgia, um Illinois, like Chicago areas, all those states are getting the most funding because they have the most population, so they have the most taxpayer dollars. So, it just makes sense. But, you know, any state, any no matter where you're located, you can get grant opportunities because remember there's still like corporate grants, too. So, even if your state isn't heavy on giving grants for businesses, you still got corporate grants and corporate grants is typically US and Canada based.
Mhm. Is there I mean obviously New York makes sense in my mind, Florida makes sense, Texas, California, but then you said should people actually like when I'm listening to you talk now I'm thinking like let me figure out where some of these corporate headquarters are cuz this might be an opportunity to for me as well is should people do deep dives and be really intentional about that type of research.
Where they're building their relationships at. 100%. 100%. Like I was like I said before is if you know who's over the funding and who's over the budgets like it becomes a point where you don't even have to apply for grants. One of my grants, Ash Jubert, she just got connected she got connected this year with um with uh Invest Atlanta, right? And I don't know if you guys know that that project, but she got a she got in in tune with them and she was able to win a $10,000 a month grant for the next 12 12 months, right? So now she has a a guaranteed 120,000 coming into her business to be able to help her do all the things that she has to do consistently and that was based on relationship that wasn't based on applying to the grant.
So and and you like you said earlier um you know when you talk about funding a lot of times it's like venture capital people go after venture capital or they go after angel investors or they try to get a loan from the bank. Um, why do you think that grant funding is not as popular as those other forms of funding?
Because you have to wait. Everybody wants the the the instant go on the line. Okay, you put your information in and it pops up. You're preapproved, right? Or 24 hours, you've been approved for x amount of dollars. Grants is not like that, right? Grants is going to be a longer process from start to finish. You might be looking at 30 to 60 days until funds in the bank account. So, when you're looking at a lot of times business owners hardly have a plan for how they're going to start their business, a business plan months before. I tell people, my clients, you need to be whatever programming you're looking to do, you need to be going for grants the quarter before. Like, we're not doing this a month before and then we're trying to get the funds and now we're rushing through the processes. We're trying to plan a whole three three months in advance, six months in advance. So, I think the reason why people go for loans is because it's quicker. A lot of times people are in those those those tight situations because they're failing to plan, you know, where their business is going the next year or next two years.
So, should the business be operating for a few months before we try to apply for a grant? Like, we shouldn't come out the gate applying for the grant.
You can apply immediately for grants. Okay. Immediately.
Yeah. Cuz I in terms of the numbers, I I would be I would think that I need to show some proof that the business is up and running. We're making money. Here's where our projections are. But you're saying like I can have those things as estimates as future guidance of where I'm headed and apply.
The thing is too grants isn't based on revenue. So you can also show traction in other ways. Do you have a wait list? Do you have people who are interested in what you're doing? Did you do a beta test to see you know this works right? I can show traction in multiple other ways more than just revenue. So it's important to know like even if you're like okay I'm ready to start this business. Can you three months ahead of time, can we open up a email list where we can get 300 subscribers to show that people want what you have to offer? And now when we're going for the grant, we're using that as the traction instead of having revenue.
That's good to know.
What businesses are most likely to get grant funding in terms of industry?
Yeah. You know, I think it's it's trendy. It depends on the trends. It depends on the season. Right now, I've been seeing anybody who's focused on um bettering their operational support through tech initiatives have been winning pretty consistently. Um but any business can do that. So, and I say it like that to say a lot of times people will set themselves out because they're like, "Oh, this is a grant for, you know, podcasting. I don't own a podcast." And it's like, well, do you have a message that can be um delivered through podcasting that would help generate revenue for your business? Create the messaging for it, right? Create the alignment for it. Don't just go for grants because it's industry based. Go for grants because your business could utilize whatever that grant is giving as a tool to grow.
Have you seen increase? Obviously, we you've been doing this and you've seen some administration changes, right, from the PE from the uh federal side, obviously from the local side and the state side as well. Have you seen uh a swing as we saw some programs could close, more people coming into the space or has it has it swayed in in a different direction?
Yeah, you know, with with Trump's administration being in office, um he canceled a lot of grant programs, you know, based on whatever reasons and then he also killed a lot of the budgets because he was like we were spending a lot of money on things that he felt were a waste or whatever he felt like it was. Yeah. He was like, you know what? No, we ain't doing that no more. So, there has been shifts, but there's still a lot of funding out there. A lot of people were reading the headlines and they were like, there's gonna be no more grants. There's millions of dollars of grants still on the table, 100%.
So, as far as you right, your company helps people streamline the process. Like, do you actually file the grant for them?
We do the whole end-to-end process from finding to writing to applying. So basically, we want to take this off your hand because we want you to be able to do this consistently. And if you're not doing grants consistently, it's going to be hard to really win.
And then the compensation, do you get compensated regardless? Do you get a piece of the grant if they get it? How does that work?
Yeah. So, as a certified grant writer, it's unethical to do any like percentages. Um, typically what people do when they do percentages, they write themselves into the grant as like an employee or something like that. That's seen as unethical. So, we take just a flat upfront fee for the process that it takes us to write and research and apply and find. Um, but we have a pretty high percentage rate. So, we're pretty confident in what we can do. Um, of course, we can't guarantee that we're going to win you every single grant, but we have happy clients.
H. How important the storytelling part of the business is, right? If I'm listening or I'm reading a bunch of applicants as a funer, I want to make sure that I have the most compelling, the most endearing story, how part how much of that do you guys implement inside of of the people that you're working with? And again, how important is that to to people who are trying to get into this?
I would say that's probably 60% of it is the connection, the story connection because especially right now with AI being so popular and a lot of people being able to generate, you know, proposals pretty quickly, what's being lost is the authenticity. What's being lost is the story of the founder and the connection. So, a lot of funders are wanting to really connect deeply to what what's your story? Why did you start this coffee company? How are you using this to propel your your community? How are you connected to this in a deeper way? like how sustainable will this be long term? Because if you're giving somebody money, the goal is that you see them 3 years from now and they've grown and you can be a part of their whole journey, right? And that's how you get that consistent um yearly annual funding from funders is being able to showcase sustainability. So, I think that the storytelling part of it is is really the big piece is really the connection. And now, like I was telling you before, they're coming up with um, you know, different AI bots and tools to be able to kick different applications out off the rip. They're like, "Okay, didn't follow the rules, didn't apply on time, don't have this uploaded, use AI, out of here. Okay, now we down to 10% of the application." So, it makes it quicker for them. So, the best way to do it is do it right.
If I win a grant, right, let's say that the grant is for 10 20,000 for the year.
Mhm.
12 months is up. Am I eligible to apply for that grant again? Like how often can I apply for the same grant even if I win?
Yeah, you can. So, but so that would be basically what's called either a rolling a rolling grant, which means there's really no deadline. And typically with rolling grants, you can reapply. Now, they may not choose you every single month for it, but you can reapply to a rolling grant opportunity or if there's a grant, they'll let you know, right? the grant. It'll shift depending on on who it is and who it's coming from, but yes, you can reapply to a grant opportunity for sure.
Is there a thing you can have but so many grants at one time? Like can you have nope 10 grants running simultaneously?
Yep, you can. But this is what I also tell people is don't get grant happy, right? Because grants are debt-free, but they're not tax-free. So grants goes on your taxes as additional income. And so you have to be able to uphold the standard of how to utilize that actual grant. So, if you're like, "Okay, cool. Stormy said one grand a day. We balling." Now, are you reporting back? Are you, you know, handling the funds how you said you would on the application? It takes a really organized, you know, um, operation to be able to handle that many grants at a time.
Is is there any oversight to see, okay, you asked for a grant, could you say you needed a truck? You have to like, do they check to see if you actually purchased the truck?
Depends on the funding source. Of course, you should always do what you said you're going to do on a grant opportunity, but um federal, state, local grants, yeah, they're going to be checking. Now, you know, if let's just say that you you budgeted 30,000 and a truck end up being 25, you can, you know, talk to them, let them know, hey, we have this overage of 5,000, we're going to reallocate it to these areas.
Is is that money tax at the Is it taxed as additional income? Right. If I made a h 100,000, I got a grant for 100,000, I've made 200.
Correct.
Okay, good to know. Yeah. So that's interesting because I wasn't even thinking about the the tax implication. Definitely have a CPA.
Oh yeah.
Involved in this.
But see, this is when when you're doing on a high level, this is when the real strategy really comes into play, right? Because now you have a $200,000 business, right? On a for-profit side. So one thing that I always tell my clients is like every every for-profit should have a nonprofit foundation, right? because now we can be able to take 30% of what our for-profit is making and put it over into our for-profit side and now we creating that tax-free money that we could have, you know, that we got.
From that, from that, um, grant funding. So, it's really important to just, I'm not, I'm not a CPA, but it's really important to understand the implications of grants and it's important to be able to have strategy when you're going for grants because you can get in trouble. And I've seen a client, you know, get tax dollars taken back because they didn't do what they were supposed to do with the funding. They didn't report on time. They told them that they were going to do, you know, help 500 people and at the deadline mark, they helped 50, right? So there are definitely times where they can be like, "Oh, taking that back."
Are you in a database of like grants? So it's like, okay, this person already has three open grants, so they might not need the money. Like if somebody else is going to give you a grant, they see how many grants you already have or were given in the past. And that might make the decision like, okay, they might not be in dire need because they already have a grant.
Yeah, the departments are pretty separated, but what they will do is they'll make you, um, you know, tell them. Yeah. They'll make you say like, "What funding sources have you gotten all year?" But sometimes that can also be a help, right? Especially on the nonprofit side of grant opportunities. Nonprofits give their money to, um, people that can showcase they have other ways of funding. Like they don't want to be the only funder on the nonprofit side. They're like, "Do you have anybody else willing to help? Do you have anything else going on?" So, they'll make you tell them on the application.
In terms of you, from a personal standpoint, Pinkprint is the brand.
Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Um, I guess we should get the origin story of the name and all that, but when you're building this team, do they all have to go through the certification process? Talk to us about how Pinkprint was formed and where it stands internally.
Yeah. So, absolutely, we all go through the same certification process for sure, but then we also have our internal, you know, methodology that we utilize in our own internal formula. So, then of course, they're trained on what we do that makes us different and our information more proprietary. So, it's a couple weeks of training. Typically, they can get it done in like three, four weeks.
How many people on the team? 17 right now. 17. 17. Okay. And those are all reps that work with people individually.
So, there's different departments. So, you have your grant writing department, you have your grant application specialist department, and then we have just our like operations and stuff.
So, how have you been able to market your company? Market it through our Get Grant Ready summits. So, our summits are really where a lot of people find us because at the basis of being a grant writer, I think we're it started off as education first, right? And that's kind of where we keep it for the most part. It's like, hey, even if you don't hire us, we want you to know that this is possible. We want you to know that you're eligible and how it works. And we want you to go and do it and be excellent regardless whether it's us or not. So when we educate people, we do like three-day, five-day virtual summits to educate people on literally the full process of like the mindset you need, the where to find grants, how to write the proposal, how to apply to it, and then also how to scale with the tax code because that's a really important part of it, too.
Yeah. How liberating is this process for you? I know a lot of times we run into people and they're like, "You changed my life. You changed my life." I wonder as you're going through this journey yourself, how has that been when people understand this is something that can really elevate their business, number one, but also from a personal standpoint, help them in their journey when it comes to financial education and debt?
At first, it was really scary because like when it comes to money, it's like people really look at you like they're a lifeline. And at first, I was like, "Hold on now. Hold on now." And you know, as time has gone on,
Hold on now. You're still from Brooklyn. That was Georgia. I had, "Hold on." Still from Brooklyn. Is it, you know, as I've built my confidence and like really seen the proof of concept more and more over the years, of course, I've just gotten more comfortable with understanding like we can change people's lives. Like we really do have access, information, and skill set to do that. 13 of you guys' vendors were there because they won Pinkprint grants, you know, working with us. And I was going around. I was like, "Oh my god." They was like, "Yeah, the grant that we won, the $15,000 we got, we paid for our booth, we here, we rebranded, yada yada, like selling out." You know what I'm saying? So, it's like seeing it in real life, like real business owners staying debt-free, building their business, expanding, getting these different opportunities because of grant funding, whether they came to a class or whether they work with us for their grant writing. It's just, it is, it's surreal. It really is. It's humbling.
That's crazy. We got to get that number up. We do. So, 13 people at Investfest vendors worked with your company. You knew that because you just ran into them or they had reached out to you beforehand?
Yeah. When I had said I was coming, they were like DMing me like, "Stop by my booth. Stop by my booth." And then I know my clients, too. You know, if I'm walking around, I'll be like, "Oh, what's going on? How are you? How's the grant been going?"
Nice. So, what is the mindset? You said you mentioned mindset. What is the mindset that somebody needs to have?
It's the shift. It's the shift in the process, right? Because like we talked about before, loans is quick, credit is credit is quick. I'll say it like this. A lot of people, they'll upload, you know, 50 resumes to different employers in order to be able to get a job that's going to pay them a set amount of hourly wage. But when you tell them that there's grants out there, they're not willing to do the same process, create a proposal, a resume, find grantors, employers, and submit that grant application or that grant proposal in order to get an amount of money that can actually build their legacy. The mindset shift that has to change is genuinely the feeling like you're worthy, what your worth is. Because if you're willing to sit down and apply for $15 an hour, $30 an hour, $50 an hour, why aren't you willing to sit down and apply for $50,000 that could actually keep you debt-free and build your business and create your legacy that you saw fit in your own vision? So, that's really the shift that needs to happen is the worth.
We talked about shift. We talked about scalable businesses prior to starting this. I wonder when you look at the businesses that are applying for grants, how many are in the tech space? We talk about growth and we can see where the economy is headed. We see what the market looks like in terms of what is actually moving the market. We know what it is, obviously, what we do from an investment standpoint, but we need creators. We need people that are innovating. How many people or how much do you stress that we're looking for businesses in the technology sector from a, as us as a company, right?
We don't really stress what industries that we, you know, try to work for, um, in particular. We more so, you know, help who's in need. But I will say that like, for instance, Web3, they just won a $5 million grant, um, you know, a blockchain grant. And I keep telling people that if you're not utilizing artificial intelligence to increase your operations or, you know, creating employees or to decrease the amount of overhead that you have in your company, you're definitely going to be behind. And there's a lot of grants that are out right now for innovation, especially sustainability and environmental innovation that they're wanting you to get this money. They're wanting you to get these grant funds because they need more businesses that are in that space, 100%.
So, what are some of the challenges that you had as far as scaling your business?
Challenges that I had was talent, right? Talent is always a thing. People come to that interview, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, ready to work, and two months in, you're like, "Hold on, what's going on here?" You know? So, talent acquisition has always been something because what we do is very technical. Um, and you have to just be excellent at it, period. So, that's been something that has always been a struggle with with growing our company.
So, have you used? I know you said that you don't really encourage people to use AI to write the grant proposal, but inside of your business, are you using AI?
We do. We have, we've created literal bots for, um, customer service, right? Phones, people always try to call and ask a thousand questions. So, we have, you know, AI that does that. Then we also have AI that we use for, like I said, on the grant writing side, deep research, alignment, understanding funders from different standpoints. Um, that's really how we're using it for the most part now. I use it. I was just telling Troy, I'm like, "I'm ready to write a book." He like, "Man, y'all can write that book." You know. So, it's, we're using it daily.
Yeah. One of the things you said, one of the challenges is having the talent, retaining the talent, I'm sure, is an issue when you have it. I want to know like from a competitive standpoint. I'm sure there's people in your industry who are watching what you're doing and saying, "Oh, we can do that. Oh, we can be better." What gives you that competitive advantage against people that are doing similar things to what Pinkprint does?
I think really it's because we have a data-driven approach. A lot of times with grantors, they're not looking at it from a business owner's perspective. They're grant writers. I'm also a business owner. So, I'm looking at, okay, how do we create? For instance, when we first started Pinkprint, what we did with every single client is we created two proposals. Only two. And those two proposals, we will apply to every single grant that we applied to. I was doing an A/B split test. So, what I'm doing is I'm seeing, okay, if we send B proposal to, you know, these corporate grants and we send A proposal to these corporate grants, which one has the best result? So, now we're understanding from a data-driven perspective, what messaging works, what type of sentence structure works the best, what type of budget alignment works the best. Like, it's really the data-driven approach that we have, and that comes from an entrepreneur mindset, not just a grant writer mindset. A grant writer is going to be good for helping you create messaging, helping you follow the rules of the grant opportunity, but you need somebody who's looking at it as a business owner, too, because you're running a business and you really do need that data-driven approach. That's what makes us different.
So, from a standpoint of Investfest, how was your experience at Investfest?
I had a good time. I was there with Miss Business. We was giving out grants on the stage, you know, in the vendors marketplace. That's what, that's what my contribution was. I had a great time. I think also, you know, when Miss Business had the, um, I forget what she called it, a boardroom, um, that she did on the university stage. And when I went up there, she gave me five minutes to talk about grants. And so many people were like, "I didn't even know I could get grants for my for-profit business." And I'm like, "Man, we got so much work to do." So that's what I left Investfest for. I was like, "I got so much work to do. I got to make this thing shake."
Yeah. Yeah. I know you're doing some stuff for us. Talk about the summit. You kind of alluded to it earlier, but this is a way that you network. Talk about what that entails, what people get when they actually come to these summits.
Yeah. So, it's the Get Grant Ready Summit, and this is literally to be able to position for-profit and nonprofit business owners with everything that they're going to need in terms of business structure, grant mindset, where to find grants, how to align, create messaging, and how to handle them with the tax code and report properly. Um, these are five-day summits that we host, by sometimes three days. And this next one that we're doing is September 22nd through the 26th, all virtual. And guess how much we charge for it?
How much? $5. Five. Five. And the reason why we've done that, we've done that consistently for the last three years is because of access. I'm like, I want you to show up, pay the admin fees so that we can, you know, host it, host it on Zoom, but I want you to show up and I want you to actually get the information to be able to grow the business. I want you to actually take this and share this with a family member. I've had mothers come and say, "Hey, I'm not, I don't have a business, but I'm going to give this to my young daughter who wants to start a business." Right? This is like the legacy approach that will be able to be created just from hosting these webinars. So, I'm like, as long as we can give the information that'll spark a mind, show up. It's not about the making money part on that side. I'm like, we just want y'all in the room.
And it's five, like how many hours is it per day?
Shoot. Depending on how many questions we get, we be in there. We be in there. We be in there. Sometimes it goes two, three hours.
That's incredible. We got five. There's no excuse. I think we were talking about that. There really is an excuse when you talk about the amount of information, the access to the information, the professionals that look like you that are doing it. I wonder when, as you're paving this pathway, are you seeing more, especially young girls and even men that are like, "Wait, this is something. This is a pathway that I've now inspired," and you're seeing people do it, right? We've seen this in the podcast space, right? There was, prior to 2019, how many people were talking about financial education? Financial education? You look at the landscape now, it's different. Are you starting to see that change in your space?
100%. I have, um, people that were talking about credit, they're like, "Oh, I'm about to get into grants." Because this is what they'll tell me is like their clients, let's say they get them a loan or a credit card or something, they use the money on their business, but then it just doesn't make money, right? Everything you put your money into is not going to always generate income. So now their clients are like, "Oh, well, we don't have, you know, we got to pay this money back and we're using our own money to do it." And they're like, "I want to just give people grants because I don't want them to be in that financial hardship." So they're definitely shifting and they're being inspired by like what we're doing with our company and in the lives that we're changing. So it is, it's, it's super monumental and I'm encouraging them, come do it. Pinkprint is a franchise. You can franchise Pinkprint. You don't even got to do it on your own. We'll get you the formula, the data, everything. We'll set you up, right?
So, how does that work as far as it being a franchise? So basically, we do all the fulfillment on the actual writing and on the application side, and we just franchise out, you know, different territories.
You, so how many franchises do you have? We don't have any yet. Okay. You started it? Correct? Okay. So, what does that take if somebody wants to be a franchisee? Like, what's that process? You know, you got to go through all your disclosures and you see how the business works and you pay what you want to pay. And we kind of go through, for me, initially starting, I want to kind of date my franchisees for a little while because I want to work with people who are genuine about the process and how, you know, grant writing actually works and not just in terms of what you can make, but the impact that you can have on people's lives. And essentially, what I'm looking for, right, is someone who's of course business-minded, but they're in their community, that they have a reach to the business owners around them or are willing to build that, and that really want to, you know, touch those people's lives in that way. But yeah.
So, the franchise is up next? Franchise is up. It's ready.
You talked to us about the book potentially, which is going to come. Absolutely. I'm interested if, when it happens, are you putting a concise body of work from your entire life experience or what we've done here now with Pinkprint in terms of grant writing? I think it's going to be starting from Pinkprint on forward.
Yeah, I think I'll probably touch on entrepreneur experience of why this makes sense to just kind of allude to the purpose into it, but it's not going to be a full body of work. Not yet. I got to, I got to get back on that.
So, where do, what's your vision for the company? Like, you're doing a franchise. Like, where do you want to see this go as far as what you're doing?
Position. Yeah. I want to do. So, my goal, we're launching the franchise fully, fully Q4. So, my full goal is to do four franchises this year, um, and kind of grow at that same rate for next year. And then once we get to an evaluation about $20 million, I'll be ready to sell.
What, what's the multiple on this space, right? So, in order to get that $20 million valuation, how much do we have to actually have in revenue for the year? Is it like a 2x, 3x?
3x. Yep.
All right. And then you said $19 million we've done. Is there a goal number that you guys have or is, you know what, we're just going to try to keep doing as much as possible?
Oh, yeah. When it comes to funding, we just, we just doing as much as we possibly can. Yeah. I want to, I want to Guinness World Record something, you know? We just trying to do as much as we possibly can and still, you know, keep it fun. Like I'm not trying to be sick over it, but yeah.
Who's the target market of people that work with you?
So, we actually like to help, um, small business owners and nonprofits one to three years. Um, that's that's who we like because typically they're the ones that don't really get access to the funding, um, as much. So, that's kind of our pocket.
Yeah. How, as you just said, that made me think about how time-consuming this is. Is this something that consumes your entire life or is there a balance that is needed to actually do this? Like you said, if you're applying to the 30 different grants, obviously you have a team, but how time-intensive is it to be in this space?
Depending on the grant you're working on, it could take you 60 hours to read through an RFP and find out what's really working, do the research on it, write the grant opportunity, and then actually apply, right? So, it can be pretty time-consuming. Me personally, um, I have a very good balance with my life because I really look at what I'm doing as a creative thing. Um, and if I'm constantly just in work mode, it suffocates my creativity. So, I like to get outside, take a breather, vibe, chill, and then I'll have like a really consistent week of just like crazy output.
So, 60 hours for one? It can, I mean, it's decreased a lot with AI, but man, some of those RFPs be 60 pages long. Yeah, that was one of the things when we sat down with Jack Dorsey, I was telling you, he said the first thing that he does is he wakes up and figures out how can I get my time back. So if you go, go to 60 hours of using AI, you're getting your time back. That's good to know.
So, okay, so if people want to sign up for the summit, your services, what's the website, Instagram, all that situation like how?
So, the website is pinkprintfirm.com.
Pinkprint firm? And that's the same across all socials. Pinkprint Firm.
Pinkprintfirm. Okay.
So, what about the summit? The summit's on pinkprintfirm.com. It's literally the first thing you see as soon as you go on the website.
That's all information is there. It's there.
Five cash. I better stop playing. Five cash.
People, they get to ask questions. Yeah, of course. Do people be doing summits where they don't get to ask questions? Well, it's, I don't know if it's a lot of people, sometimes, you know, it's difficult to answer everybody's questions. We might not be able to answer every single. Our last summit had 1500 people in that summit live.
Wow. Yeah. In the, I'm talking about it was activated like, you know, the chat going crazy. You can't answer 1500 questions.
Yeah, the chat's going crazy. You just pick and choose just a random. Yeah. Like, you know, we had a chat box and we're like, what we try to pick the questions, of course, that are going to incite more knowledge and more conversation. If you're just asking like those personal like, "Where do I start my LLC?" You know, sis, get us on the back end, hit us on the indirect.
1500 people is a lot, but that just tells you the appetite is. People, I mean, it goes crazy every time. Every time. Yeah. Especially on the for-profit side because they didn't know how accessible grants were and how it could really, like, your operational costs can be floated from grants.
I can imagine that. I got some ideas. It's needed. Especially like you said, a lot of businesses struggle because they don't have funding. So, you know, you're trying to get venture capital, you're trying to get bank, you're trying to use your credit cards, but it's another alternative that you don't have to pay back and somebody's not taking equity in your company. So if you can get a grant, then that would be a blessing for most people that actually have some level of boost in their, in their engine as far as, you know, having more running capital available to them.
100%. And it's important too, right? The more grants that are created, if they're not used, when that budget sheet comes back, that line gets crossed off. So we got to have more people in the space that are actually applying for these grants, winning these grants so they can stay on that budget line so that every year after year, more people can actually have access to it.
100%. 100%. The more you know. And the more people that are applying, they'll create more programming. You know what I'm saying? So, we got to speak up for ourselves.
Yeah. There you have it. Well, appreciate it. Appreciate y'all. Thank you, Stormy. Has been incredible. Thank you for coming. Appreciate this. Do you have a personal Instagram too that you want to say?
Yeah, it's @iamstormybank. Stormy with an I.
@iamstormybank.
But I'll be over there chilling.
Everything's earned. Everything is earned. Everything earned.
Pinkprint. Is that Nicki Minaj inspired?
No. You know, a lot of people asked me that and I should have did a little more research, but it really, I was on a walk with my mom and I was like, "What about the like the blueprint for women?" Cuz that was kind of my thing is I was like, "I want the women to be able to like have some access." And I was like, "What about Pinkprint?" She was like, "Yeah, do it." And I was just like, "All right, bet." So, it's pink, the blueprint for women in business.
Okay. I was thinking Blueprint, maybe the Jade influence, all that greatness. Throw it in together. We got to tie Brooklyn in there somehow.
For sure. All right, guys. Thank you for rocking with us. I'll see you next week. Peace.